Conventional articles of footwear cannot be substantially customized for use by the customer or wearer. For example, the physical and mechanical properties of conventional athletic footwear are substantially fixed and generally targeted to well serve the median or average 160 pound individual. However, the body weight or mass, walking or running speed, and characteristic running technique of different individuals having the same footwear size can vary greatly. As a result, the stiffness in compression of the foam material used in the midsole of athletic shoes can be too soft for individuals who employ more forceful movements or have greater body mass than an average wearer. At the same time, the stiffness provided by conventional athletic shoes can be too great for individuals who weight significantly less than an average wearer. As a result, wearer's having characteristics deviating significantly from the norm or average individual can experience inferior cushioning and stability. Accordingly, conventional articles of athletic footwear often fail to provide optimal performance characteristics for individual wearers.
Further, conventional athletic footwear often include an outsole made of thermoset rubber that is cemented by an adhesive to a midsole made of an ethylene vinyl acetate or polyurethane foam material which is in also affixed with adhesive to a textile upper constructed with the use of stitching and adhesives. Because of the difficulty, time, and expense associated with renewing any portion of conventional articles of footwear, the vast majority are simply discarded at the end of their service life. This service life of an article of footwear can be characterized as having a short duration when a wearer frequently engages in athletic activity such as distance running or tennis. In tennis, portions of the outsole can be substantially abraded within a few hours, and in distance running a foam midsole can take a compression set within one hundred miles of use. The resulting deformation of the midsole can degrade both cushioning and rearfoot stability, thus may contribute to the origin of athletic injuries. Accordingly, many competitive distance runners who routinely cover one hundred miles in a week's time will discard their athletic footwear after logging three hundred miles in order to avoid possible injury.
While the service life of conventional athletic footwear is relatively short, the price of athletic footwear has steadily increased over the last three decades, and some models now bear retail prices over one hundred and twenty dollars. Nevertheless, athletic footwear by and large continue to be disposable commodities and few are being recycled. Accordingly, both the manufacture and disposal of conventional athletic footwear is relatively inefficient and environmentally friendly. In contrast, the present invention teaches a custom article of footwear, a method of making the same, and also a method of conducting retail and Internet business.